Vettel aiming to secure fourth in standings

Outgoing world champion Sebastian Vettel says securing fourth place in the standings is his priority at this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Vettel finished in fourth place in Friday's second practice session and currently holds a slender advantage over Fernando Alonso and Vatteri Bottas in the fight for the same position in the championship.

"I think we have improved the car today, but we can still improve more," he said.

"The Super Soft tyre seems pretty good for one lap, but I don’t think they lasted very long, for everyone, and then we focused mainly on the harder compound.

"McLaren has made a step forward the last couple of races and the nature of the track here maybe suits them a bit better than other tracks, but it’s Friday so I guess we will find out tomorrow.

"I don’t really want to interfere with Mercedes in the race. It would be nice to race them and beat them, but I think realistically they are a bit far away. I want to get everything out of myself and the car and make sure I finish fourth in the Championship."

Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was sixth quickest.

"We got all the laps in, which was important and we got to run both compounds on the long runs, so I think we achieved all we could in terms of a run plan," he said.

"Mercedes are … yeah I won’t even mention them! But anyway, they’re fighting for the title so we’ll let them go, but as for the rest it looks pretty tight as always for third place. We’ll definitely try and do something [with strategy].

"Anything can happen and it’s the final race, so hopefully the strategy can work to our advantage someway. Sebastian looked competitive today and hopefully we’re fighting for that spot on the podium, it would be nice to have a battle with him and end the season like that, it could be a good farewell for him and the team."